A SUGGESTION THAT I DISSECT SOME BARN OWL PELLETS,
David Gascoigne from Canada suggested in his comment to my last post that I dissect some Barn Owl pellets and make this part of a blog. David and Miriam both visited us, and David being the only person who comments on my posts who has visited and seen a Barn Owl in situ , Richard brought David over of an evening and sat him in a chair at the end of our patio, some 60 metres from the nearest box and after a very short time a Barn Owl appeared, did the normal wing and leg stretching before flying away, it all worked perfectly as if by clockwork.
If I had realized the time this would take in the dissection of the pellets before starting this venture I think I would have had second thoughts on commencing but once underway you have to finish. I have to date spent in excess of 7hrs on this escapade and will soon get them photographed , but in the meantime I have had a search on line and found some dissected by a lady {Melissa Harrison} and I can only wonder at the hours she must have spent on carrying out this exercise, but on my attempts it must have taken her several days.
Pellets are regurgitated by the owls in getting rid of the non digestible elements of the food, this being after my dissection efforts , mostly skin and fur, and a smaller element being bones. \to be truthful a really sticky mess.
Dissection by Melissa Harrison {Bless her and the time it must have taken}
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Skulls and Jaws, { Mouse} |
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Pelvic bones, [ mouse] Barn Owl Science Courtesy of the Barn Owl Trust.[ of which I am a member.]   Lastly my meagre efforts. These are from seven pellets I collected over Saturday[3] and Sunday [4] from under the large box. The idea is you soak the pellets in warm soapy water to soften the pellet then dissect with tooth picks and tweezers.   this is what I eventually had at the end, skin and fur and still some bones, a horrible sticky mess.  to the top I have placed skulls, below jaws and teeth, bottom left are thigh bones, bottom right are pelvic bones. In 2017 we had a major influx of Waxwing, these beautiful birds were dotted all over the county and the ones below were in the village of Glenfield that is situated approximately half way between our village and the City of Leicester. Here they had found a still heavily laden apple tree, where they spent many days devouring said apples much to the annoyance of the local birds. It is said that these birds will devour between 800 and a1000 berries a day, roughly twice the body weight, not sure as to how this relates to apples but in a few days the stripped the tree clean. They arrive in the UK sometimes in large numbers called irruptions.          |
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Kestrel, Eyebrook Reservoir. A bird I seem to see on a regular basis at the reservoir. |
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Chiff Chaff, Eyebrook Reservoir. Out today and heard the first one on our land. |
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Great Crested Grebe, Shallow Water Hide, Rutland Water. |
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Same bird as above. |
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Great Crested Grebe, Deepwater Hide. Young on back having begged a lift. Thank you for your visit, I hope you have found it interesting with the Barn Owl Pellet dissection, I am thinking of sending some to David to let him see what an awful job messy it is . |
